eClub North Bay

August 28, 2011

               Joe Skaggs originally entered the eClub Match Play Championship thinking he was entering a different event. When he found out the mistake, rather than withdrawing he decided that he’d play; the event sounded like fun. Little did he know at the end of the road he would walk away from this “accidental” event as the champion.

               It could not have been a nicer day at Pasatiempo when the four semi-finalists came to the course with victory on their minds. It was not an easy road for any of the players to make it this far and to end up in the final foursome. David Steele from eClub Sacramento was one of only four players in the Sacramento bracket that did not receive a first round bye. He made it through 5 matches in a bracket that included defending champion Harvey Hunter to get to Pasatiempo. Lanny O’Connell from eClub East Bay had to battle through the tough East Bay bracket to face the South Bay Champion who had survived four tough matches as well. Mitch Meza maneuvered the smaller but equally tricky eClub Central Valley bracket and then knocked off the Fresno representative to land a spot at Pasatiempo.  And then there was Joe. Joe survived the eClub North Bay bracket only to wind up in an edge of your seat thriller match that ended on the 18^th hole. There was no doubt that these four competitors had earned their way.

               Both matches in the morning at Pasatiempo were hard fought. The golf wasn’t always the prettiest but the attitudes were always positive. Meza and O’Connell, both six-handicaps, were playing even up and neither player ever held a lead of more than 2 up. Skaggs was getting a significant amount of strokes from Steele, a deficit that ended up being too much to overcome. Steele made it interesting, coming back from 5 down to take Skaggs to the 16^th hole.

               In the afternoon, it was only a matter of time. Skaggs got off to an early lead and simply hung on until time ran out. Meza made several great shots to stay in the match, but in the end his putter and game lacked holes to catch back up. Skaggs “accidentally” found his way to the top and is now the 2011 eClub Match Play Champion.